Two noteworthy hearings involving city employees were continued within the last two weeks.
First, last Wednesday, August 3, Police Officer Todd Randall was expected to have an important hearing in which he could plead to his charges or disclose a plea deal. That hearing was unexpectedly re-scheduled at the last minute, pushing it off later into August.
Randall faces charges of making a false statement to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
It wasn’t immediately determined from court records just who had requested the continuation.
On July 28, a conciliatory hearing before the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) was continued until September 8 for undisclosed reasons.
The hearing involved Department of Public Works (DPW) Superintendent Don Goodwin and a DPW employee, Martin Gonya.
An investigator with MCAD ruled last month that there was probable cause to believe that Goodwin had created a “hostile working environment†for Gonya over a period of several years.
Goodwin, Mayor Tom Ambrosino and the City contend that the allegations are baseless.
Gonya believes the opposite.
The hearing is designed to work out those differences and come to some sort of compromise position. The hearing is not a public meeting, and its contents are not part of the public record.
If the hearing is not successful, then a full public hearing on the matter would be scheduled in front of MCAD.
